Ball Lightning - Prelude p1

All right, I'm not sure what a 14-year-old boy is doing thinking about deep sympathy for homeless creatures in a stormy night on his birthday, but there it is.

Today was my birthday. Up until my father and mother lit the candles on the birthday cake that evening, and we sat gathered around the fourteen little flames, I didn't even think about it.

This was a stormy night, the kind that made the entire universe seem intimately comprised of only the flashing lightning and our little house. In the flash of lightning, you could clearly see the falling raindrops outside the window. Those raindrops looked frozen, like clear glittering beads of crystal strung in dense ropes between heaven and earth. At this time, a thought surfaced in my mind: if the world were indeed this way, it would also be very interesting. Everyday, you'd step out and stroll amongst the dense curtains of crystal, their ting-ling, ting-ling chiming all around you. Only, how could such an exquisitely delicate world withstand the violent fury of a thunderstorm.... The world to my eyes was always different from the world in other people's eyes. I was always trying my best to transform the world. In all my years up till now, this was the only thing I had come to understand about myself.

The thunderstorm started around dusk. Since then, the lightning and thunder have come thicker and faster. At first, after each flash of lightning, my mind recalled the fleeting glimpse of that crystalline world as I scrunched up my scalp waiting for the next peal of thunder. Now, the lightning was too frequent. I could no longer tell which peal of thunder belonged to which flash of lightning.

In this night of violent storms, you can best appreciate the value of having a home. Imagining the warm embrace of home, in sharp contrast to the terror and danger of the outside world, is enough to make you drunk with pleasure. You would deeply sympathize with the homeless creatures who were forced to endure the storm. You'd want to open your window and allow them to flit inside, yet you would not dare to do so – the outside world is too frightening, and you would not dare to allow even the slightest breath of that terrifying outside world into the warmth and comfort of home.